Bosnian War Research Paper

From the 1990s to 1995 in Southeastern Europe, specifically those states in the Western Balkans fought in a war between their fellow bordering states. The conflict began due to Bosnia’s interracial mixture of people specifically in relation to Bosnian Muslims, Serbs, and Croats. The war was mainly between Serbians, Croatians, and Bosnians as the Serbian motives to participate in the war were focused around ethnic differences. This investigation will determine the extent to which Serbia’s involvement in the Bosnian War was due to religious reasons through the research question: “To what extent was Serbia’s involvement in the Bosnian war from 1990 to 1995 due to religious causes?”

Before the 1918 unification of the Yugoslavian region there were

only two “entities” that were sovereign states; Serbia and Montenegro. Yugoslavia was a region that was developed directly after World War II in 1918. Those who occupied the region were mostly the Serbian people. The Serbs lived in almost all parts of Yugoslavia except Slovenia and the Croats lived in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Vojovdina, Montenegro, as well as other states outside of Croatia. Bosnia was under control by the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century all the way up until the early 20th century. Bosnia under the rule of the Ottoman Empire was multi-religious with three major recognized religions; Islamic, Serbian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic.
As a result to the lack of power within the empire several new regions were developed one of those being the Balkans. The Balkan region was the region that included Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro. As time progressed the interracial communities entered into conflict with religion, ethnicity, and national identity. The major conflict began in 1992 as Serbian forces began taking drastic actions to eliminate ethnicities that differed from their own, focusing specifically on Muslims. The process became known as an “ethnic cleansing.” This war lasted a total of three years and about 100,000 people were killed in the process and “80% of the people killed were Bosnian Muslims and Croatian civilians.” This war is said to have been the, “worst act of genocide since the Nazi regime’s destruction of some 6 million European Jews during World War II.” It is necessary to investigate this war to understand why such a large amount of force was used to demolish this specific race of people, and to fully understand any logical reasons the accused parties had for the deaths of one hundred-thousand people. Although there were many religious reasons behind the Serbians’ efforts to gain complete control in Bosnia –Herzegovina, it was not the main cause of the war. The Serbians fought to spread their principles and influence throughout the region as well as make political gains. Ultimately the political causes of the war were much stronger than the religious aspects and they had a larger impact on the cause of the war.

Chapter 2: Religion
From the 16th century to the 20th century, Yugoslavia was under Ottoman rule.

Under Ottoman rule Yugoslavia was a multi-religious country. People coexisted with each other for centuries living peacefully with one another and were able to carry out regular life. The three major religions recognized in Yugoslavia were Islamic, Serbian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic. There were three main republics in Yugoslavia; Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The three different republics in the region of Yugoslavia is what allowed for such ethnic diversity. Each religion was specific to one area of religious practice but all people could practice any one the religions in any location. The diversity and the freedom to practice religion played a large role in the start of the war. With diversity among people it gave opportunity, it allowed for new development and gave possibility for the power structure to shift into the hands of another ethnicity. With the fall of Yugoslavia in 1992 the three republics became recognized as states by the European Union in 1992. Slovenia and Croatia in January and Bosnia-Herzegovina in April. This was the beginning of the start to the Bosnian

war.
The three republics were no longer controlled by one power and the battle to takeover began. The conflict started in 1992 as the Serbian population began to focus in on the different ethnic groups living in the three different states. There were Muslims and Serbians living in Eastern Bosnia and Croats and Muslims in Central Bosnia. A perfectly functioning society was devastated by war crimes because of religious conflict. The crimes were conducted by all three of the ethnic groups but the leading assailants were the Serbians. The militant efforts were conducted by General Ratko Mladic and a Bosnian Serb leader named Radovan Karadzic. These two Serbians led Muslims, Croats, and Slovenians to horrific tragedies. Mass rape of women, executions, concentration camps, and more. These terrible events occurred because the religious differences between the three ethnicities became too overwhelming and strong for the Serbians liking. As a state that wanted complete control, their government and their leaders were willing to put their people through anything and everything to make sure that their specific religion was dominant among all people. The shift in power made “opportunity” to recreate a “functioning” society based off of different religious beliefs. Not only did it develop the opportunity to use religious beliefs of Serbian Orthodox it gave opportunity to eliminate those who were not seen as acceptable for the religious practices and views. This began to cause division and separation within the society and it was due to religious causes. Once separation occurs sides will be taken, those sides were the Croats, Serbians, and Bosnians.
Many believe that religious and ethnic conflict had minor affiliation with the war and that the main conflict came through political reasoning. There are many interpretations of the role that religion played in the war. One being that religion seemed insignificant by and to the “intellectual elite.” It was seen as insignificant because of their knowledge of the past governmental problems that occurred and developed during Tito’s time in office. But during this time the majority of people were not elite, they were very poor and the education availability was slim to none. Education was a major factor in the way people were able to interact with those of different religions and the levels of tolerance present. This argument has many logical points to it, but it has been counterclaimed with the fact that religion was the only thing that separated or distinguished the people from one another. And any kind of education about the religions would not have an effect on the way people viewed each other. Muslims, Serbians, and Croats all shared the same language and race but became separated by their religion. Historian Samuel Huntington says, that the war was a “clash of civilizations.” This idea was common of those who engaged in the conflict on all sides. Each side fighting was willing to stand for what they believed, even if that meant they would go to war. Croatian sociologist Srdjan Vrcan refers to the war as something that started because of “centuries-long conflicts between essentially opposed human types of cultures and civilizations.” This historian does not believe that religion itself was even a cause of war only that the war began because of “centuries-long conflicts.”
The war was labeled as an “ethnic cleansing” by Serbians and the other belligerents.

The idea of an “ethnic cleansing” was developed in hopes that it would create fear for those included in the process. It was virtually used as a way to intimidate those preparing to go against the aggressors and in that process, “villages were terrorized, looted, and often razed to prevent their inhabitants from returning.” The “ethnic cleansing” conducted by the majority of Serbians within the government not only massacred hundreds of thousands of people, but they also made it nearly impossible for any survivors to return to a home or any other location for that matter. The war caused mass destruction throughout the region. The lack of locations for those who survived attacks were left desolate and due to the lack of resources remaining in the cities it was very difficult for people to get what they needed. Because of the need that the Serbians had to conduct and “ethnic cleansing” many people were abandoned by the deaths of their families, children became orphaned, and the possible opportunities for those who were caught in the war largely

decreased.
This ethnic cleansing occurred because of the differences in people’s religion. The religion that Serbian people practiced mostly was Serbian Orthodox, a form of Christianity. Muslim Bosniaks practiced the religion of Islam. Islam is the practice of an Abrahamic and monotheistic religion. There are many differences between the two religions. One difference is the origins, “Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Nazareth, and Islam is based on teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.” The texts that are used for the two religions are also different; for Christianity the bible is used and for Islam the Qur’an. One major difference is that in the practice of Islam there is only one god that is worshipped and that is Allah. Christianity has several gods which derives from the Holy Trinity. There is, “the God the Father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit.” Because Christians believe in more than one god the way the death of Jesus ascended to heaven is different than the Islam belief. According to Christians Jesus led a normal death but had spiritual suffering. As for the Islamic belief “Jesus did not die, he ascended into heaven during crucifixion.” These simple differences may not have been the main religious cause of the war, but they certainly contributed. Human beings have the basic need to belong and if something that distinguishes one from another they will do whatever it takes to fight for what they want and believe in, in this case it was religion.
This became a point of conflict during the 1992 to 1995 war because the religious practices were different from one another. But also because Serbians stopped allowing freedom of religion to occur as well as other freedoms that occurred centuries before conflict began. Religion is seen to be the simplest argument used to defend the act of war brought by the Serbians, but ultimately it was not the sole reason behind the war. Many other factors played roles in the start of the war and affected the direction that the war went.